Description:

Art and science are often presented as domains that exist independently of each other, sharing little if any overlap. This false dichotomy has the potential to slow the process of discovery, weaken our ability to educate, and restrict the flow of communication. In this keynote I hope to show how the visual arts have benefitted science (and vice versa) in the past and how they continue to do so ever more powerfully in an era of rapidly evolving visualization technology. I will also share how Northwestern is helping researchers to better understand and communicate their discoveries through a central visualization resource staffed by technical and artistic directors from film and game studios like DreamWorks Animation, Day 1 Studios, and Sony Imageworks.

Matt McCrory is the Lead Visualization Engineer for Northwestern University's visualization group. He joined the university in 2008 after working as a lighting technical director and lighting artist on several films for DreamWorks Animation, the last of which was Kung Fu Panda. In his current role, Matt leads a group of industry artists/technicians whose primary task is to help researchers visualize their data through the application of movie and game industry tools and techniques.